KUALA LUMPUR: The Immigration Department busted a syndicate involved in forging documents, including passports, and arrested two African masterminds in a special operation around Kuala Lumpur and Selangor on Oct 25.

Immigration director-general Datuk Ruslin Jusoh said a 46-year-old Nigerian, believed to be the main mastermind, was arrested in Kajang, Selangor, after a two-week investigation, while the second suspect, aged 56, from Ghana, believed to be another mastermind, was arrested at Jalan Kasturi here.

Following the arrest of the main mastermind, the team raided the suspect’s house at Jalan Chan Sow Lin and seized 10 fake Nigerian passports and a fake student passport sticker.

"The suspect confessed that he had obtained the student Identification Documents (ID) from a Ghanaian man,” he said in a statement on Saturday (Nov 4).

During the arrest of the second suspect, the team found a fake student ID card on the suspect and seized two fake student ID cards and six fake immigration i-cards, which were recovered during the checks at the suspect's residence in Cheras.

He said the enforcement team also seized a fake United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) ID card and seven student ID cards from various universities and colleges in the Klang Valley.

Ruslin said the syndicate's modus operandi was to target Africans who have problems such as lack of identity documents and visas in the country before offering services to produce documents such as passports, student passports, labour cards, i-cards, UNHCR cards and fake student IDs.

The syndicate charged about RM1,000 for each passport and RM200 for other documents.

Both suspects have been detained at the Putrajaya Immigration Depot under the Immigration Act 1959/63, the Passports Act 1966, and the Immigration Regulations 1963, he said. -Bernama